A house in motion: Silvana Armani loosens the lines at Giorgio Armani
For Spring/Summer 2027, Silvana Armani distilled the house codes into a restrained, sculptural wardrobe that balanced reverence with an open-minded spirit. Anders Christian Madsen reviews the show.
It wasn’t a blank canvas, but it was definitely open to ideas. After delighting the fashion industry with her appointment of Dario Vitale at Emporio Armani last week, Silvana Armani rang out the Milan shows with a distilled and purified Giorgio Armani collection, which served both as a kind of reset for the brand, and as a message of open-mindedness. Masculine tailoring gave the proposal its backbone, softened by languid trousers, fluid evening shapes and surfaces worked with embroidery, stones and abstracted animal markings. Nothing felt overplayed. Even the more decorative gestures were filtered through a taste for restraint, allowing sensuality to emerge through movement, texture and finish rather than exposure.
It made for a chic, sculptural wardrobe that felt recognisably Giorgio Armani without appearing trapped by its own codes: polished, precise and controlled, but open enough to suggest that the house can evolve without having to declare a rupture. “It’s fashion that everyone can wear,” Silvana Armani said after the show. “For the first time, I introduced cotton. [Giorgio Armani] didn’t like it; he thought it did not express much. I love it, so I included it. It seems to me that this combination of cotton with a touch of eveningwear works well.” Her easy-going attitude towards trying new things at Armani was uplifting and never came across as heavy-handed.
It’s fashion that everyone can wear. For the first time, I introduced cotton. [Giorgio Armani] didn’t like it; he thought it did not express much. I love it, so I included it. It seems to me that this combination of cotton with a touch of eveningwear works well.
SILVANA ARMANI
On the contrary, the collection was still rich in reverence. A black suit worn with a white corsage and white gloves paid homage to the look a young Giorgio Armani wore to his first communion. The collection also featured a sequinned jacket with a portrait of the founder. “It is a woman who dresses as she pleases, mixing day with eveningwear,” his niece concluded, alluding perhaps to her own relationship with clothes and her approach to the role of successor. Next season, the designer whose terrific one-season stint at Versace last year put his star on the fashion galaxy takes over at Emporio Armani. Together, Silvana Armani and Dario Vitale will make for an intriguing new era at her uncle’s fabled house.
Young Giorgio Armani wore to his first communion, inspiring look 20
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